Humble beginnings

[Avenger]

So before you became the vinyl crate digging, obscure demo worshipping fiend that you are today, how did your interest in Metal begin? I could have sworn there was already a thread regarding this but I was unable to find it unfortunately...

The reason I ask is that today while looking for something completely unrelated, I found an old VHS tape from back in my single digit years titled "Monster Truck Bloopers 2" and in a state of nostalgia it brought me back to the music that played while drivers destroyed their vehicles. After doing a quick google search, to my surprise someone had actually taken the time to compile the sound track from the video and it’s actually as enjoyable as I remember:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I__PNO9 ... 3E&index=1

Listening to these tracks sent shivers down my spine as I was 8 years old when this video came out and it’s probably one of my earliest memorable past times being exposed to this type of music that lead me on the path to record collecting.

Anyone else have any stories regarding how they got started with this illness?

Or can shine some light on exactly who these mystery bands dubbed “Metal Flash” and “Rock Power” are?

[bigfootkit]

shine some light on exactly who these mystery bands dubbed “Metal Flash” and “Rock Power” are?

In the comments on one of the youtube videos someone mentions that 'APM Music wants an insane amount of money just to borrow the track', so i'm guessing that this APM Music owns the copyright & could perhaps clue you in about the 'bands'.

[Avenger]

Yes, I did some digging and the tracks were composed by Mac Prindy and the guitar work done by Wesley Plass. Quite the career Plass had. He even did studio guitar work with Warlock in the mid 80's.

I'm still interested so see how the Corroseum's elite were introduced to Metal as a child. Or at least thier earliest memories of such.

[Keir]

I grew up in the 70s listening to my mom's records which included a vast array of folk and rock, including some heavier bands like Led Zeppelin and AC/DC. It probably wasn't until 1987 that I decided to find my own path (I was 12 or 13 at the time) and I started by listening to whatever Top 40 station my school friends were listening to. I didn't care for most of what they played but found myself leaning towards the more hard rock bands like Europe, Heart, Bon Jovi, and especially Whitesnake. The first cassette I ever bought with my own money was Whitesnake's self-titled album. I remember my brother bought Slippery When Wet the same day and we would listen to them in our Walkmans and then trade. From there I started listening to other popular hair bands (Winger, Kix, Cinderella, etc.) and then mainstream metal (Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Ozzy, Metallica). Then my brother's friend Darryl started bringing tapes to our D&D games and that's how I got introduced to "lesser known" bands like Warlock, Manowar, and Annihilator. Probably the biggest factor in me becoming the obscure metal nut I am today was college radio. In particular, The Metal Storm on WUNH played stuff you couldn't see on Headbanger's Ball like Agony Column, Destruction, Intruder, and local bands like Candy Striper Death Orgy. By 1990 I was a full-fledged long-haired metalhead with a Persecution Mania backpatch on my denim jacket.

[Warepire]

A Swedish music video show called Voxpop, in combination with the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for PS2. Around 2001-2002.

[Avenger]

the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for PS2. Around 2001-2002.

It's funny you mention this as I have a buddy that became interested the same way. He's not a collector by any means but it was surprising having him ask me about the in game music and having no idea who Anthrax, Iron Maiden, or Judas Priest were.

[ION BRITTON]

'89-'90: Dad bought my first cassette ever, it was Alice Cooper's Trash.
'90-'95: Listening to Scorpions, Guns 'N' Roses, Queen and mixed compilations ranging from pop to movie soundtracks.
'95-'96: Cousin had bought several Iron Maiden, Manowar, Megadeth, Metallica CDs. Got curious one day and borrowed some of them to check them out. Heavy addiction ensued...

[bigfootkit]

I'm (pleasantly) surprised by how young most of those who've responded in this thread so far are, i'd assumed most members of the forum were old timers like myself.
For me, my initial interest in music in general was sparked by the glam bands of the 70s when i was only about 4 or 5 years old. Slade, T Rex, Sweet, Gary Glitter, Mud etc. all caught my ear & held my attention when they were on TV, probably because they looked so extrordinary, but those catchy choruses & crunchy guitars really got lodged in your head.
The punk bands later caught my attention too on the rare occassions when you'd see them on TV or hear them on the radio.
I then saw a very brief clip of Kiss on some show in the late 70s which really piqued my interest, and although we didn't even have a record player at the time, i soon found myself looking at their LP covers in the local record store and wanting to know more.
We finally got a 'music centre' in 1980, and i bought myself Kiss's 'Dynasty' LP & Iron Maiden's 'Running Free' & 'Sanctuary' singles. Again, the cover art was what appealed to me, and as far as i recall i'd never heard a note of Maiden's music before buying those 45s.
I loved those records, and played them constantly, and soon after my cousin got 'Alive' by Kiss & 'Let There Be Rock' by AC/DC, which he taped for me, & they only served to cement the idea in my head that this was my music.
We began looking through Sounds magazine in the newsagents every week to see if we could find out what other bands sounded like this & using this haphazard method my cousin & i gradually began building our collections & discovered Motorhead, Sabbath, Hendrix, Priest etc.
The whole thing hinged on being able to remember those band names we gleaned from Sounds & then being able to find (and afford) them in our local record shop. Not an easy undertaking on a 10 year old's pocket money.
Some mistakes were made along the way, and i remember being utterly perplexed after buying Amon Düül's 'Phallus Dei'.
I'd seen a pic of them & reasoned that as they had long hair & umlauts in their name they must sound like Motorhead.
I was very much mistaken.
By the time i had aquired 'No Sleep 'til Hammersmith' & Anvil's 'Metal On Metal', it was inconceivable to me that music could go any further in terms of heaviness or speed, but that assumption soon proved to be nonsense.
By that stage i was doomed, music had well & truly got a hold of me & it became a lifelong obsession.
And all because of that 30 second Kiss clip that caught my attention.
The gateway drug.

[Noisenik]

More posts like the upper one - keep 'em coming!

My interest for our beloved music started to form, after my schoolmate, with whom I shared table at maths, started to rant about strange new musics he became obsessed with - Heavy Metal and Hard Rock. He has painted logotypes of several bands like Def Leppard, TNT, Scorpions, 'Maiden', 'DC', etc. on the first proper page of his math-notebook. He asked me what music I listen to, and I answered, Nothing (worth mentioning). He suggested then I should listen to this. Now, those logotypes at least seemed quite interesting, esp. TNT one, with both T's almost joining into a very sharp point, looking like a triangle seal. And Metallica looked cool, too. I heard for 'Maiden' already as I saw them on poster in a national youngster magazine, as early as 1986, but nothing rang a bell then. He further suggested I should start with Def Leppard, which were not so heavy, and whose cassette was available in our local paperstore, and later continue with heavier stuff, like Speed and Thrash Metal (:shock:, speed 'n thrash metal, mhm, mhm). I pondered over this, I really wasn't into music much, perhaps mildly into Beethoven and a national singer/songwriter bordering on pop/rock/punk, whose name I will not mention here. But I was into collecting, or better said into accumulating. Stamps, badges, butterflies , information of various kinds, ... everything that a list could be made from ... eventually. However, I have to note, Metal information were outside of my range, my mum didn't go to shop in Trieste - our gateway to the West - so Metal Hammers were out of question. I had to gather info from friends or buy Bravo, where Metal content was meagre at best, and for which there wasn't enough money. Anyway, believe it or not, I haven't even started, I already planned a collection of sorts. This conversation happened in early April 1989, shortly after my 12th BD. I eventually (OK, a week but it seemed long) persuaded my mum to buy me that Def Leppard cassette, Hysteria (Jugoton, ). I gave it a listen at home, and thought, OK, and nothing more. Later in this Friday evening I went out with friends, and announced them what I bought. One friend which was a few yrs older than most of company, caught attention saying, wow, you're going wild, dude, and revealed that he already has few such items. I asked him, why you haven't tell us about it, and he replied, he was certain we weren't interested. It turned out he got Europe (oh, OK), Judas Priest - Ram It Down , and Blue Oyster Cult - Imaginos . This one soon later became my item nr.2, Ram It Down nr. 6 . It turned out that older brother of another friend, also had a few items on tapes and vinyl. So a very crude list began to form - bands mostly. Heavy Metal became a top theme of our conversations, and we dreamt about acquiring anything from Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Ac/Dc, and others. Majority of info at that time we gathered from a popular national newspaper, whose name would be translated as Sunday Daily, . It boasted a part dedicated to music, called Osa (Wasp) and in that very time it included a few pinches of HM/HR in each edition, mainly because HM popularity had risen steadily. There I found news about VoiVod releasing Dimension Hatross or Vendetta releasing Brain Damage (Duh!). There was also report on HM year 1988. And Justice For All was considered a terrible record, Ram It Down was not so good because Rob ceased to drink , and Dimension Hatross was nothing special for VoiVod . OK, way better than nothing. Later in the same paper, ppl. sent their personal charts to editorial that were published, and some where pretty heavy. (There I read about Necronomicon or Violent Force for the first time, but I am fastforwarding.) So at this point I got DF, BOC and on a suggestion of older friend, I bought Ozzy Osbourne - No Rest For The Wicked. As said DF were OK, BOC were weird at best - sth wasn't right, didn't know what exactly - but Ozzy blew me away. With first few bars of Miracle Man, I knew I got a ticket. I was let in. On that same day we left school for May 1st holidays and prepared our own bonfire. We listened to various HR taped from radio and Ozzy. Life was fun . A week after I managed to buy 'And Justice For All' and on 22nd May I dragged home majority of Kill 'Em All and Master of Puppets - as much as could be put onto D'90 - lent from a school friend. I made copies of them and of 'Blow Up Your Video' and 'Ram It Down'. I must mention I remember listening to Kill 'em All for the first time, a sensation never repeated anytime afterwards. An aeroplane landing in my room and a glimpse of another dimension. MoP was pure heaviness, too. And I confess I wasn't convinced at that time. But for the first half of 1989 this was it. School vacation came and with them HM draught! I needed more music, but I couldn't get it, I wasn''t even teenager yet and a village and HM are still an unlikely combination. 2 B continued.

[sovdat]

I grew up in a small village and spent a lot of my pre-school days with my 8 and 10 year older cousins and their friends. Perhaps Noisenik will correct me, but to me it seemed that back in early 90s everybody was listening to Metallica, Guns n' Roses, Iron Maiden, or at least Bon Jovi. So I was familiar with all the existence of metal right from early on, but it wasn't until 98/99 when I was 11 and decided to have my own tapes with music, much as my 2 year older sister (who was listening to what was popular at the time). So I bought my 1st blank tape, taped 5 songs from radio but decided to go to hell with it, and went to my cousin in order to get Metallica taped (The name just sounded the coolest ever). Whiskey in the Jar got played on radio quite a bit then, so I wanted that one, but as my cousin didn't have, he taped Kill 'em All. A couple of months later I got my 1st CD - ...And Justice for All. When I heard the title track, I could remember listening to it when I was 6. 17 years later, I still have my 1st taped cassete and that Ajfa CD, together with a couple of others (And I remember than, when checking my cousin's "huge" (100+) CD collection, I limited myself by owning max 3 CDs per each band )

[Zombie Dance]

When I was 11 or 12 Marilyn Manson was the shit and led me to discover Alice Cooper, who totally kicked his butt. My bigger brother was into Metallica, Iron Maiden and evil dans techno (the D-Devils!). Then I borrowed a compilation cd to my parents, I can't seem to find it online, it had this tracklist : (https://www.discogs.com/Various-Metal-M ... se/7144228) except the cover was a naked hot chick wearing only sunglasses and an electric guitar between her legs! That cover alone was mindblowing but the crazy songs I discovered on this compilation propulsed me into Metal forever, that was it. Naked hot chick, Venom, Angelwitch, Magnum, Uriah Heep, Motorhead, Nazareth, Black Sabbath... That was it! The compilation still exists at my parent's house and I still blast it from time to time when I go there!

[fengisriprider]

I was a young lad maybe 12 or 13 and my grand mother randomly bought me the beatles anthology 1 when it came out for christmas. I had not really ever heard them much but my grandmother must have figured that I being much like my uncle Johnny who was her eldest son would like the same music that he did when he was younger. Turns out she very right, I must have listened to that double disc a million times. Once beatle mania began to die down between ages 13 to 14 The fourth Led Zepplin Album found its way into my hands which turned the headbanger light on.

[Noisenik]

Perhaps Noisenik will correct me, but to me it seemed that back in early 90s everybody was listening to Metallica, Guns n' Roses, Iron Maiden, or at least Bon Jovi. So I was familiar with all the existence of metal right from early on, but it wasn't until 98/99 when I was 11 and decided to have my own tapes with music, much as my 2 year older sister (who was listening to what was popular at the time). So I bought my 1st blank tape, taped 5 songs from radio but decided to go to hell with it, and went to my cousin in order to get Metallica taped (The name just sounded the coolest ever). Whiskey in the Jar got played on radio quite a bit then, so I wanted that one, but as my cousin didn't have, he taped Kill 'em All. A couple of months later I got my 1st CD - ...And Justice for All. When I heard the title track, I could remember listening to it when I was 6. 17 years later, I still have my 1st taped cassete and that Ajfa CD, together with a couple of others (And I remember than, when checking my cousin's "huge" (100+) CD collection, I limited myself by owning max 3 CDs per each band )

Yup, it was - up until 1995, even. From todays standpoint it is almost unbelievable. What today youth goes for ... . Well, to continue, Heavy Metal erupted on our school in early 1989, and there was a lot of patches seen. In fact there was more patches than music spinned or rolled , but that was a time when female population was interested, too. When theirs interest waned, patches vanished, as well.

I myself wasn't much into patches, as I tried to gather as much music as possible and blank tapes were not that cheap. In autumn 1989 I acquired some 'Maiden', some 'WASP', Manowar - Kings Of Metal, G'n'R, which blew me away, but it only lasted one week. Manowar were killer on the first listen, but not much afterwards, dunno why. Then followed some Slayer, some Kreator, S.O.D., Megadeth, ... all with garbled sound but much appreciated. I remember quarreling with school friend, who wanted to charge me for everything. Very important became listening to the so called "Drugi Val" (Second Wave) and HM on it - for about 30 minutes. Once a friend reported that he overheard Deliverance and Amalance (sic, and totally Corroseum terrain, btw.), there and how Deliverance are so fucking dark and obscene, how they dig the bodies from their graves and enjoy when maggots are cracking between their teeth, LOL. This lead to discussion about Venom and their black metal. I missed this emission and another 25 of them, including one where new Pestilence (Consvming) and Napalm Death (Mentally) were presented. A friend reported that they were soooo fucking heavy, brootal even, that it is hardly to go any further from there on. Well, I could only shrugged. When I finally attuned to that emission (these radio waves seemed hard to catch, ), I bumped into Ezo, Slayer and Godflesh. Slayer were killer, Ezo I ignored asap, but Godflesh I couldn't, they were likened by editor as a mixture of Head Of David (this bandname seemed pretty scary at the time, again dunno why) and Napalm Death, and sounded really heavy, almost too heavy. I have recorded first four emission, afterwards I relied on memory. In these next I was rewarded with tracks by Forbidden, Xentrix and Sabbat. These I was looking for - thrash was genre for me. Today I am quite sorry that I didn't record more of these emissions they would make excellent compis. To note, I esp. remember first time I heard Carcass - I felt mild nausea while at - they were touring with Atrocity in 1990 and for Disharmonic Orchestra and Disastrous Murmur -they were headlining s c Fuck Off Commercial fest in Žalec - I was certain that air blurred while music was coming out of speakers. Not to mention, these sensations were not repeated, when I acquired proper albums. Sadly. To finish, after all these years I try to be more attentive while listening, bcs I still find it funny and fascinating how many albums sound different on first and with additional listenings and first impressions are in class all their own. Just to add, it seems that I really got into HM early in 1990, with the help of Second Wave programme (and Godflesh), tuned into a source of info I was looking for "so" long. But 80's were effectively gone.

[Keir]

I have recorded first four emission, afterwards I relied on memory. In these next I was rewarded with tracks by Forbidden, Xentrix and Sabbat. These I was looking for - thrash was genre for me. Today I am quite sorry that I didn't record more of these emissions they would make excellent compis.

Do you still have any of those recordings? I do love to hear old radio programs.

[Noisenik]

I have recorded first four emission, afterwards I relied on memory. In these next I was rewarded with tracks by Forbidden, Xentrix and Sabbat. These I was looking for - thrash was genre for me. Today I am quite sorry that I didn't record more of these emissions they would make excellent compis.

Do you still have any of those recordings? I do love to hear old radio programs.

Keir, I think none of them survived bcs. the cassettes they were recorded on, were of extremely bad quality. Also, I may have even re-recorded them, back then I was everything but archivist. I also remember that later we have occasionally taped only what suited us. Something of this may still exist, but doubt it would interest you, it's from early to mid 90's, some ten tapes or so. 'Will take a look anyway.